Marcolini

Marcolini is an Italian luxury car company that created some of the most famous exotic cars ever known. Was once part of the EuroNext Initiative and is now independent.

History

Marcolini was created by Franco Marcolini in 1939, once a famous farmer that liked to make engines. In his youth, he had already done multiple engine designs that were used by other Italian brands.

Several years later, he created the automobile brand and designed multiple cars. Positioning itself as a premium, rich brand, Marcolini also joined motorsports, like Formula A and several Touring classes. Franco himself was a man that created many enemies during his life and it sparked several controversies during his time at the top of Marcolini but as a genius of both engines and creations, it was hard to argue against him. During this time, Torino Automobili had intentions of buying the company but were held back by Franco’s ‘lack of ambition’ and temperamental issues.

A small stint was made in 1963 when Dearborn tried to buy Marcolini as they had their own racing ambitions. Franco laughed his way out of the room when it was proposed, saying in italian, quoted: “Come back to me when you have a car that is worth more the rubber that carries it.” After that, Dearborn decided to create many cars to try to topple Marcolini’s dominance and eventually managed to win at the 24h GrinVits of 1966 with the Dearborn Touring Mark 2. Franco was forced to admit defeat but Dearborn didn’t want to make any more deals with Marcolini.

Despite the success in all areas they were in, and being somewhat profitable, the company had a terrible turn over with some years only having sold a few dozen cars, the lowest point being 1984, where the company sold only 5 cars in a year. After the death of Franco in 1988, Torino Automobili purchased over 85% of its stock, and since then the company grew about 20 times more than before, no small part due to victories in Formula A with legendary drivers like Nicholas Fraupt and Michel Schtoller.

The company went through many CEOs during the years of 2004 and 2016. Torino Automobili, one of the major stakeholders and the company behind the EuroNext Initiative, decided to spin-off Marcolini in 2015, with the process creating a new holding company called Marcolini N.V. and the process was finished in 2016.

Now independent again, Marcolini continued their dominance in the premium car maker market, with backorders taking several years to be completed. The company recently entered a premium sports clothing market, being somewhat successful as well. Their newest models are the Vicenza and the Aosta, the latter being used for the newest Touring 3 class as the Aosta GT3.

Featured Vehicles In Project Redline

Regular

Genoa GT PS (1987)

The Genoa GT PS (Gran Torino Passo Successivo) is an exclusive homologation version of the Genoa GT, just about street legal as you can get. The Genoa GT was already a great car, but this competition focused version of it comes with even more goodies.

Powering this vehicle is a twin-turbocharged 2.9L V8 in a FR configuration, with a 5-speed manual transmission.

Aosta GTC (2023)

Introduced in 2023, the new Aosta GTC is a worthy successor of Marcolini’s previous racing efforts. This car won the 24h GrinVits Ros in 2023, the first win of the brand in several decades, and won many other GrinVits races. Despite the short time around, it is already a racing champion and legend.

The vehicle is powered by a twin-turbocharged 3.0L V6 engine in a RMR configuration, and a 8-speed dual-clutch transmission.

330 Trento (2000)

The 330 Trento might just be the quintessential 2000s car. It was massively popular with the rich, including rappers, singers, and actors. You couldn’t watch a music video without it. But it wasn’t popular just because it was from Marcolini, it had the design and engine to back it up.

The 330 Trento was sold with a 3.6L V6 engine in a RMR configuration and a 6-speed ‘FA’ manual transmission.

Maranello Rinvigorire (MR) (1994)

The first revision of the Maranello was met with praise, an excellent upgrade to an already great vehicle. Despite being from 1994, it looks at least 10 years younger than that, due to Marcolini’s excellent design philosophy.

The MR was powered by a 4.9L flat-12 engine in a RMR configuration and a 5-speed manual transmission.

Verona (1987)

The Verona was largely an experiment from Marcolini, how much can one get away with by making a homologation car but without any reason to do so. The result is a car with barely any internal comfort, or even an air-conditioner but a sense of speed and joy that no other car (at the time) could grant. It is as an official Formula A vehicle as one could get, or its reviews said, a ‘giant go-kart’.

The Verona is powered by a twin-turbocharged 3.0L V8 engine in a RMR configuration, and a 5-speed manual transmission.

Vicenza Sport (2023)

The Vicenza Sport is a new age super sports car from Marcolini. Its design calls back the older models from decades prior, with a modern touch. This is the first plug-in hybrid by the company and it was the world’s fastest hybrid at the time of its release.

Due to its hybrid nature, the Vicenza Sport has a twin-turbocharged 4.0L V8 engine in a RMR configuration, and a 8-speed dual-clutch transmission, as well 3 electric motors, one mounted in the transmission and one in each front wheel.